What are 2.1 inch tires actually FOR?

A year or so ago, I got an old MTB (Ross Bryce Canyon) to leave at the in-laws up Maine. It came with some pretty fat tires, 2.1s (veloceraptors). Well, I finally got to take this thing out for a good spin today and besides needing a tune-up, I noticed that peddling this thing uphill. or on flat ground, on pavement or in the dirt, is like peddling through oatmeal! What are the general use for tires this wide, or was that just the fad back in the day when they made these things?

"I'm built like a marine mammal. I love the cold! "-Cosmoline

"MTBing is cheap compared to any motorsport I've done. It's very expensive compared to jogging."-ColinL

Fat tyres are good at absorbing bumps and dealing with soft surfaces - mud, sand and so on. And actually they roll pretty well, so if you are finding them hard going it is unlikely to be their width alone but their tread pattern. Knobbly tyres roll poorly on pavement or hard- packed dirt. Swap them for some slicks or semi-slicks.

There have been many days when I haven't felt like riding, but there has never been a day when I was sorry I rode.

I guess it's all relative. I have two other MTBs and they both came with sub-2 inch tires. The fat ones are pretty knobby. They sound more like dirt motorcycle tires on pavement than the stock tires of the other bikes. I have never run out of traction on the narrower ones. I'm probably not that aggressive off road.

"I'm built like a marine mammal. I love the cold! "-Cosmoline

"MTBing is cheap compared to any motorsport I've done. It's very expensive compared to jogging."-ColinL

Fat tires inflated to moderate pressures absorb bumps really well, but still don't have much rolling resistance.
You can only run them at moderate pressures on wider rims though, and most bicycle companies are run by idiots nowadays who don't know jack squat about the stuff they're selling.

Big Apples will fit on a narrow rim @ 70 PSI, but they don't work right, and can't.
Get WIDE (35-40+ mm inside width) rims on your bike, get some 2.3 Big Apples on and inflate them to only 25-30 PSI and you'll finally understand how they're SUPPOSED to work.

One aspect of bigger fatter tyres is that they work better for off roading and with heavier riders... lighter riders like myself benefit from running a narrower tyre as the wider higher volume tyres have far too much float and lose traction.

Used to ride some fairly intesnse CX and off road and always looked for tyres in the 1.75 range after finding tyres in the > 2.0 range did not offer the same traction and handling benefits.

Schwalbe has done a lot of research on tyre width / size and rider size and has also found this to be true.

OK I lied, that's with 2.2s. Fast ones. Conti RaceKing Supersonic. Also used to set course records on the Midnight Century two years in a row. This year, I three-peated, but went with 2.0 Furious Freds.

Example:
OK I lied, that's with 2.2s. Fast ones. Conti RaceKing Supersonic. Also used to set course records on the Midnight Century two years in a row. This year, I three-peated, but went with 2.0 Furious Freds.

Nice video! Scary single track at 30 mph. Pretty sure I would have ate it right there ha ha!

Depends on your weight- type of terrain- profile of the tyre and pressure.

I use Fire XC's in 1.8 and 2.1. It is a tyre that suits our terrain of Rough Chalk trails and some soil that is dry in Summer and Mud in winter. We also have a lot of Moor Grass that grabs hold of some tyres and slows them down but it does not grab the Fire XC's

I weigh around 150lbs and normally use the 1.8 unless it is a real wet muddy ride where I will use a Mud Specific tyre. But come the summer where the trails are rock solid I go over to the 2.1 for a bit of suspension. It is the popular tyre in our area and One of my mates used the 2.1 all the time. He weighs in at 190lbs but one day asked if he could borrow the 1.8s. He found that the narrower tyre gave him better control- better speed and more confidence. He also admitted that he had to raise the pressures a bit as he had a couple of snake bites at the normal 40psi he had initially put in so he found them a bit harsh till he got used to the increased speed it gave him.

I run Michelin Country Dry 2.15's, and @ about 60psi, they roll BETTER than the skinnies I had on my rims.

Every tire has a "sweet spot" for tire pressure, and it varies with the rider; likely you didn't hit yours.

I have a set of "winter tires" (2.25 DMR Redshift, aggressive tread) that roll perfectly between 45-50 psi. With all the 'riding with kids' I do, trails are a distant memory; I'd knock the psi down for that, at least 10psi..........